Hola Amigos

Last Wednesday we went to Mexico. And I've been so busy I haven't had a chance to blog about it until today!

No, really. We left China and went to Mexico. It was a bizarre experience. Wednesday, around 4:00PM one of our student's parents called us and said, "How would you like to have some real Mexican food...tonight?" Well, of course we do. One of the things I didn't realize when we moved here is that China does not have real Mexican food, or even very good Tex Mex. There is one chain restaurant, located in Beijing, Chengdu, and Shanghai, that has fairly good Tex Mex, but it's hard to tell when you taste fajitas with corn tortillas for the first time in months. Anything tastes good by then! (Peter's Tex Mex is actually one of my favorite restaurants in China, and I go there every chance I get-five times since December!) But real, authentic, habenero spiced, cilantro flavored, pulled pork, diced pepper delicacies are nowhere to be found. Except for the rare occasion of last Wednesday.

So, back to the real story. Wednesday. Our student's parents, friends of ours, had secured several tickets to the Mexican Naval Fiesta aboard their Cuahtemoc Tall Ship, and knew we'd be excited to attend! The invitations included "Tuxes and formal wear required" and was sure to be a great night. We were pumped, although a little nervous about the attire requirement. Nathan doesn't even own a tux, and I had to borrow a dress from a friend. But we showed up dressed to the hilt, as my mother in law would say, only to find out, nobody else in Qingdao owns a tux either. Oh well, the night was great! We were pampered for hours, shown around the ship, invited into the commanding officer's quarters, and had a great time. And it was incredibly strange to be speaking and hearing Spanish for the first time in months! Thank you Senora Wendling! Nathan's Spanish came back quite well...mine not so much. Every time I went to say "mi", it came out "wo", and "gracias" was always "xiexie". But at least that says something for my Chinese language learning! It was a great night. And the food...well, not to brag too much (our friends have ordered that we stop), but it was so good it nearly made us cry. I'm not even exaggerating. Real tears sprung to my eyes.

By the way, the ship was in town for a huge parade of ships that 14 countries besides China took place in. You can read more about the event here:
http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/04/22/1903145.aspx

On an entirely different note, we (and by "we" I mean Nathan) have just about finished up the Fiddler dvd. To get a sneak peak, go to Nathan's blog for the trailer. You can get to it from the link in my bloglist. Tonight we had a private "Previewing" with all of the directors, and it was a blast. Nathan has really done an amazing job on the video. You have to get a copy!